'Persian Gulf Gazetteer, Part I Historical and Political Materials, Précis of Koweit [Kuwait] Affairs, 1896-1904' [‎18] (35/132)

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49. As regards the Eussian intrigues in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , to which Colonel
Pro. No. 100 o( the u,t died Prooeodin e ,. referred in his last mentioned report,
the Secretary of State enquired, on 7th
February 1898, whether His Excellency the Viceroy had any confirmation of
Pro. No. 101 of lb. krt oiled Prooeeding.. J'; 0 suspected Eussian designs on Koweit.
The Viceroy replied on 9th February in
the negative, but added : " Colonel Meade reports that a M. Adamoff, who
accompanied two Russian doctors ostensibly on plague duty last year, visited
Baghdad in August after touring about the Gulf. Adamoff is not a Doctor.
k . w, No. 2 of secret e .. may 1898, Nos. The report referred to was a demi-official
73 103 " letter of Colonel Meade, dated 10th Jan
uary 1898. The two Doctors were—one Mare and the other Oust. They said that
they had been deputed to study plague by their Government. There were
however, no signs of any plague in the Perssian Gulf at the time.
50. Jasim soon again embroiled himself in a Koweit affair with the
Secret e., notembar 1898, nos, 515-523. Turks. In March 1898, Sheikh Mubarak of
Koweit led an attack against the Howair
tribe of Bedouins, who were under the protection of Jasim bin Thani and, after
defeating them, captured a large number of cattle. This was resented very
much by Jasim and his Arabs, and as they suspected that Sheikh Mubarak
had^acted under Turkish support, they had a quarrel with the Turkish soldiers
in Katar. A free fight then ensued between the Arabs and the soldiers, and
it was even said that the Turkish garrison was attacked by Jasim. This affair
only resulted to an increase of Turkish soldiers in their posts in Hasa and Katar,
VII.—(1) Proposed Protectorate over Koweit (2)Agreement with the
Sheikh of Koweit, December 1898—May 1899.
51. From the correspondence noted above, it will be seen that late in 1897 and
early in 1898 there was disquieting news from the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. of movements
of Turkish troops near Basrah, of an alleged Russian mission to Baghdad and of
an intention on the part of Russia to acquire a coaling station on the Persian
Gulf, possibly Koweit. These reports induced the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. to ask the
precis in secret e., march i9oi, Nos. 57-68. Foreign Office (11th February 1898)
. . whether they were in possession of any
information as to designs of Foreign powers which might make it desirable to
modify the policy of non-intervention in Koweit. To this letter no reply was
received till the 5th December 1898. In the interval the Government of India
were furnished ^ith a note of Mr. (now Sir) William Lee-Warner, dated 23rd
June 1808, printed as Appendix Cto this Precis and Mr. (now Lord) Curzonhad
been inquiring into the subject, but officially the question had been allowed to
rest; and nothing had occurred to bring it again into prominence until receipt of
Sir N. O Conors despatch of the first November 1898, which enclosed a
Consular Report to the effect that the Vali of Basrah, by sanction of the Porte
had appointed a commission to settle the quarrels between Sheikh Mubarak and*
lus nephew's. The Mia Office then addressed a letter to the Foreign Office
(dated 23rd November 1898) drawing attention to the issues raised in the letter
of the 11th February. The Foreign Office in reply expressed their readiness to
support the Government of India by diplomatic action, should that Govern
ment consider that a protectorate over Koweit might be asserted and under
taken by it on its sole responsibility without difficulty or inconvenient extension
of police duties m the Gulf It was added: " It does not appear that there is
district 1 " m ** Turklsl1 claini of sovere isnty or control over the
, ., 52 ' The blowing telegram was then despatched by the Secretary of State
to the Government of India on 24ith December 1898 :
"Jlrr O ? 0e w ° uld . a PP Tov oof protectorat® on the understanding that responRi-
bihtiesfor its assertion and maintenance and for control devolved on the Government of India
and if you think that it could be undertaken without difficulty or inconvenient extension of
duty of police devolving on your Government in the Gulf 1 like should to know the opinion of
e Government of India with special reference to present state of affairs at Koweit and
to the measures you could take to make protectorate efEeotive relying on Her Maiestv 's Govern
meut for support at Constantinople diplomatically/' } S 3 y 0¥eri1 "